SIX Durham youngsters have shown their artistic abilities to scoop prizes in a competition.

The children received their awards in a ceremony at the Britannia Hotel, Newcastle Airport, after entering the Northumbria in Bloom children's painting competition, sponsored by Greggs.

They were among more than 150 finalists being presented with prizes and certificates by BBC Radio Newcastle's Marion Foster.

The top 14 paintings, made up of the first and second prize winners from five different age groups, as well as two sections for special schools, have been reproduced in a calendar, which is now on sale priced at £3.

It is available from the Gateshead Flower Show, from July 26 to 28, Newcastle Central Library and all the Northumbria in Bloom presentations.

Graham Randell, managing director of Greggs in the North and one of the judges, said: "We have sponsored the competition for six years now and each year, the task of picking winners seems to get more and more difficult.

"It is very heartening to see such artistic talent in the North-East."

The judges also included local artist and gallery owner Peter Edwin Bolwell Andrews, from Alnwick.

The Durham prize winners were: Courtney Price, seven, from Hetton Primary School; Kerry Smith, ten, from Pittington Primary School; Ashleigh Archer, 13, from Lord Lawson of Beamish School; Hannah Close, ten, from Whitworth Special School; and Kirsty Borwell, 13, also from Whitworth Special School.